Results

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Fighting Illini women's golf closed out the opening tournament of the 2015-16 season with a third place finish at the Minnesota Invitational. Illinois finished just three strokes off of the lead at the event hosted at the Minikahda Club in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by the Golden Gophers.

"There are a lot of positives to take away from this opening tournament," shared head coach Renee Slone. "This team is in a good place to start the year off on a strong note."

In the final round of the Minnesota Invitational, Illinois posted the lowest score of the day across the field with a 295. Additionally, the Orange and Blue carded rounds of 289 and 303 on the first day of action.

As a team, Illinois finished in third place with a total score of 887 (+23) in the 12-team field. Purdue took home the team title after shooting +20 on the two-day event. East Carolina picked up the runner-up spot with a +22 outing. Kent State and Minnesota rounded out the top-five scores, coming in at +31. The rest of the field finished in the order of Houston (+33), GRU Augusta (+40), Colorado (+40), TCU (+46), Texas (+53), Kentucky (+63) and Kansas (+79).

Leading the Fighting Illini was freshman Bing Singhsumalee, who finished with a share of eighth place in her first collegiate outing. Singhsumalee recorded a mark of 222 at six-over par and led the entire individual field with 13 birdies across the three rounds of action.

"Bing was spot on with everything in her opening round," stated Slone. "She opened the final round with a pretty solid start as well. We can't wait to see what else she'll accomplish this season, and in her career."

Back in the opening round of the tournament, Singhsumalee registered a tie for the lowest round in UI program history at 66 (-6).

Stephanie Miller tied for 13^th at the season-opening event after posting rounds of 72-77-75. The junior birdied nine holes at the event. Dana Gattone came in at 15^th place with a nine-over par effort. Chayanid Prapassarangkul tied for 20^th with a reading of 79-75-72 while Grace Park finished with a share of 27^th, carding rounds of 79-75-73=227.

Competing as an individual in her first collegiate tournament, sophomore Pailin Ruttanasupagid finished tied for 63^rd after posting scores of 79-88-81.

"This was a step forward in the right direction," Slone said. "We were in position to finish on top and the fact that we didn't is very motivating heading into our next tournament."

Up next for the Fighting Illini unit is the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate hosted by Tennessee. Three rounds will be played across Sept. 21 and 22, in Knoxville, Tennessee.